DESIGNER DIARIES: HOKONUI FASHION DESIGN AWARDS
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As Viva's Dan Ahwa wrote, "Is Gore the fashion capital of New Zealand?" Well, we're off to find out! Creative Director Vicki Taylor was in Gore last week on the judging panel of the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards for a second year running, joining fellow judges stylist Sammy Salsa and designer Natalie Newlands.
We followed her over three days to get a behind-the-scenes look at the judging process, determine how many cheese rolls were eaten, and who took home the supreme award.
Day 1
(Flight to Dunedin, Vicki & Sammy Salsa Judging, Art at the Exhibition)
Good Morning Gore! First port of call – off to do Hokonui Breakfast Show for a 7 am start. Many laughs as we tell our stories, and Steve Dunstan gets to fulfil his dream of being the local weatherman on the radio!
At 8.30 am the judging begins. This is always my favourite part, getting to see what dreams have turned into outfits over the last year. Being a returning judge brings back such great memories – reuniting with the incredible team of dressers, wardrobe managers and organizers behind the scenes. This is such a slick and welcoming team.
The room is filled with stands of garments and creations. The colours, textures and intriguing shapes entice me to look closer. All entries are coded as they arrive so that us judges don’t know the designer's name, area or where the garments come from until the winners are announced on Friday night. We are guided through the judging steps and are seated and ready to start.
9.30 we get a quick interruption from Shirley – a true gem behind the scenes who keeps the whole team fed over the weekend. She delivers us our first plate of her specially made (and must be eaten hot) Southland cheese rolls. If you know, you know what these entail.
(Art at Eastern Southern Gallery, Sammy Salsa and Vicki judging)
To give you an idea of judging, we are not allowed to discuss much in front of the model, so they walk the garment up and down, turn and show us what the garment does and we spend this time touching and exploring the garment first. Once the model departs, we get into our discussion – use of colour, proportion and shape, design balance, use of textile, construction and of course, overall impact of the garment. Each judge comes from a very different aesthetic, which made us a stronger team. We discuss and reason our thoughts as a team, this enables us to understand each other’s perspective. What do we do when there are so many great options? Luckily we can award ‘Merit’ awards when needed, these are special call-outs for those who have shown us something exceptional in their creation process.
We’re exhausted, having seen 290 outfits on the first day. A quick refresh at the hotel and then we are whisked off to the sponsor's evening held at the local gallery. This is not just any gallery – they have a collection of some of New Zealand’s best artists – Len Lye, Ralph Hotere and even a Goldie on display. I pinch myself - I am in Gore and Hotere has gifted 36 of his works to the Eastern Southern Gallery. A learning here - Never underestimate what you find in the four corners of our backyard! After a great evening with the local business owners and of course, our fabulous wardrobe team, to finish there is a quick stop to the only place still open at 11 pm that serves hamburgers – but what goes on tour must stay on tour!
Day 2
(Mannequin Challenge, the central stage, Vicki steaming pre-show)
The team of judges, Steve and the main organisers join us in the centre of town, our backdrop the famous trout sculpture – surely the most photographed fish in town!
We are out for another live radio interview this time with MoreFM Southland, being quizzed about our judging styles. Sammy’s pink Dr. Marten’s are a great topic of discussion as we can’t give anything about our judging away. The team then spring a competition on us! A normal Friday morning surely always starts with a mannequin dressing competition. With what you ask? Only the best materials for us - toilet paper! Yes, it’s 5 degrees, we’re rugged up and ready to go. Draping, scrunching and ripping – intentional and not so intentional – it's underway. 5 minutes goes fast when your fingers are stiff from the cold! Many laughs later, a few threats of broken friendships and Natalie Newlands is announced as the winner. Sammy and I applied a similar technique so were too predictable!
It's 8:30 am – coffee in hand, we head back for our second day of judging.
Our gorgeous Shirley keeps us fed during the judging morning with more of her famous Southland cheese rolls! I am unsure if my waistline will remain the same size! Shirley gives us the “how-to” on the art of cheese roll cooking, How much brown toasting it should have and of course you can not have any cheese escaping. There is an art to the make and many a family recipe but we are told they are contraband if made outside of Southland! How many cheese rolls can we eat in a day… we leave that challenge up to Steve. Girls on eating, boys (Sammy and my husband Mark) on kitchen cleaning duties, thanks, boys!
Back to judging. The cultural aurora and narrative awards take the longest. We read every story submitted by the designers on the reasoning behind each outfit. The stories add so much depth to the designs. A few of these bring Nat and I to tears – solidifying our thoughts and confirming our choices are correct. We finalise our categories and we’re done – phew!
Nat and I head off to the main stage for our showcase run-through, as we are not only judges this year but also running a mini catwalk show for our brands. We have the amazing styling expertise of Sammy Salsa on hand to ensure we are looking slick for the runway – a couple of run-throughs and we are done. The main room and stage have undertaken such a transformation overnight. From boxes and scaffold to an impressive 27m white catwalk with full stage lighting, three AV screens and many rows of screens. Thank goodness it’s not me walking about that catwalk.
A quick refresh at the hotel is in order. There is a side step to the RSA for raffle night, a Hokonui tradition Steve introduced me to last year. We are a little overdressed, The raffle is tempting … $2 per ticket.. will Steve win the Bluff Oysters or just a meat pack like last year?
We are now running a tad late – so back to the venue for a judge's Q&A, with Steve as our Question Master! This is a VIP ticket holder exclusive just for Friday night.
Soundcheck, doors open. The show is theatre style and there are 500 people. Fingers crossed we made the right decisions.
Day 3
(Design by Renee Louie, Judges at the Gala, Sammy backstage pre-show)
Whilst there’s no judging today – it doesn’t mean the party is over.
The judges and Steve are out exploring the local area, and visiting the sponsor's business, art galleries, The Cooney dairy and oh yes - did I mention the RSA again!
The Gala night was incredible – completely sold out to 800 people and boy did the team put on a show. Tonight everyone is at tables and the wine is flowing. Hilary Barry is the MC and she really builds the excitement and the crowd feels really excited. It really is our chance to watch guests' reactions to reach as they come down the catwalk.
This year I had the honour of sponsoring an award, The Shelter by taylor Garment with the Most Commercial Potential. We wanted to bring light to a designer who crafted a garment that could be worn right off the catwalk. The attention to detail by winner Oscar Darling was incredible, While this looks as simple as a jacket and pants, up close the pants are a re-engineered blazer, the shirt is from the Blazer lining and the jacket is parts of jeans. I could see it fitting right into our concept store The Shelter.
To touch on the overall winner - Tegan Vickers’ garment had a big presence on the stage and was very striking in person. You must look beyond the coat to see the amazing pant design – very innovative. Fabrication and construction were amazing – this garment had all three of us judges out of our seats when we first saw it. We all had to touch and look closely – this outfit has a true strength to it. Vickers’ narrative's strength followed her journey battling an eating disorder for 10 years and the outfit fulfilled this story elevating this outfit from a category winner to an overall contender. A unanimous decision between us.
